Saving Life
by kaito136
Summary: When Kyouko finds out that Homura travels back in time to save Madoka from her fate, she decides that she wants to make use of this power and save her family from the tragedy. Sayaka, being stubborn as she is, forced her way through and went back to more than a year ago with Kyouko. Things just didn't turn out the way they want it to be.
1. Prologue : A Choice to Make

Saving Life — Sakura Kyouko x Miki Sayaka  
Prologue / Chapter 0: A Choice to Make.

**Warning: This fanfic concerns death, violence, sensitive social/sexual/religion issue. Heavy angst. Read at your own risk.**

Disclaimer: This fiction is purely fanmade. Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica / Puella Magi Madoka Magica belongs to the owners.

* * *

"God damn it... Madoka..." a choking blunette held onto her dear friend's arm tightly as the newly contracted Magical girl lied on the floor.

It was raining, still, and the city of Mitakihara was in a mess. The day they all had been waiting had arrived and left in a breeze, as if nothing mattered to the organizers of this "Gathering of Witches". A group of young girls, who hold an important role of saving citizens and protecting the city, gathered and fought endlessly for hours that morning.

It all ended when a flash of pink light blasted through the middle of the huge gear-driven witch, Walpurgis Night. A raven-hair girl stood by the sideline witnessed it and she knew that it was over, in many ways more than the fight.

The end of a spear stuck to the ground and the owner groaned, "Another one... Another one!" she kicked away a rock by her foot, "Fuck this, seriously fuck this! Innocent people just keep dying and I can't do a shit about it!"

The aforementioned raven-hair girl took a deep breath and drop her bazooka to the side. Quietly, her primary weapon resurfaced and she whispered to herself. "Madoka... I'll save you again. I'll make sure you won't contract with Kyuubey this time..."

The gears in her weapon started spinning. She closed her eyes and just as she was about to step into another barrel...

"Huh? Homura, did you just say you'll save Madoka?" the spear wielder asked, "She's dead". This distracted the time-traveller. Her gears stopped spinning and she glanced over her shoulder.

Well, no harm telling them who she is now since she's about to leave.

"I... I repeat time," she said monotonously, "I save Madoka from her fate. That's my duty."

"Huh..." came a reply, "You... What?" A confused sigh came from the redhead. She turned to face the still-crying blunette for a moment and then turned her attention to the fallen girl beside her.

"I wish I could do that too. I wish I could go back in time and save the ones I loved too."

An interest perk in Homura as she turned to give the redhead her full attention. _'Doesn't Kyouko loves Sayaka? Isn't she still there?'_ she thought.

The spear disappeared and the owner changed back into her regular outfit. She continued, "Say... Homura," her fist tightened around her now egg-shape Soul Gem, "could you possibly... Send people back in time as well?"

This time, the blunette lifted her face off the body and faced them. "Wha... What are you guys talking about?" she sniffed and wiped the back of her palm over her teary face, "Madoka... She's dead! Are you guys gonna just leave her and go off else where!"

Homura took a peek at the only unmoving body among them and looked away quickly. Too many times. She had witnessed this too many times. But why does she still feel the pain hitting her so hard? It still hurts a lot having to look at Madoka's corpse."I... I am...-"

"Sayaka, Homura just said that she could go back in time to save Madoka. She's not leaving her anywhere," Kyouko covered up. She paused before continuing, "Madoka will be alive again."

The tears stopped instantly and Sayaka frowned. That was a little too-much-info suddenly to her and her brain capacity was not as huge as Homura's. She thought Kyouko was just sprouting nonsense to cheer her up. She let out an amused smirk and grab Madoka's tiny palm tightly, "Thanks Kyouko. I don't know about that transfer student but Madoka's here. Going back in time won't bring her back to life now."

Sapphire eyes stared straight into the ruby-coloured ones. "Once they're dead, they're dead. You know that, Kyouko."

That hit the redhead hard. She flinched and back away from Sayaka. Tears just about to fill up her eyes as she recalled the day that changed her life. _'Damn it...'_ She knows about that, she knew it! Once they're dead, they _are_ dead! And she can't do a damn thing about that! She couldn't-

"Going back in time... At least Madoka is alive in the past. So are your loved ones, Sakura Kyouko."

Both of the teary girls looked at the time-traveller. Homura's face remained expressionless and she look down to her diamond-shape Soul Gem on the back of her left hand. "The ones we love are alive in the past. And that's where I am going."

Her palm turned and the raven-hair girl is now staring at her clenched fist. "I've never tried sending anyone else but me back into the past..." she looked up to the pair, "Neither have I tried going further back more than a month..." then the purple eyes stared deeply into the pool of confused reds, "If you are willing to, I could try."

Kyouko's face lighten up at the end of that sentence. Her mouth left a gap and she blinked; the knowledge of traveling back to the past, to give her a second chance of saving her family was kind of overwhelming for her, since she had given up on that two years ago.

Suddenly, a declaration cut through her thoughts, "If Kyouko's going, I'm following her."

The redhead turned to the source of the voice. Sayaka had let go of Madoka and stood up, steadying her steps. She clenched her fist and continued, "Kyouko saved me and I know perfectly well who she wants to save. Let me help you, Kyouko." Her blue eyes stern and determine, burning right into Kyouko's bewildered ones. Or maybe, that's just Sayaka being stubborn. _'Or maybe she just wants to go back so she could see Madoka?'_ Kyouko thought. She does not see a reason to stop Sayaka anyway, and perhaps that could bring her the happiness she had been dreaming about: To live with her family happily once again and during an invited dinner, she could introduce them Sayaka as her girlfrien-

"Miki Sayaka, that's going to be very dangerous. Though Madoka's not here anymore and your death should not be of my concern, I would still suggest you to think twice," said Homura.

Sayaka rolled her eyes. "Yeah, whatever you say, Transfer student. You just wanna see Madoka and I am not allowed to?"

'_Just as I thought'_ Kyouko sighed mentally.

"This is not about seeing Madoka-"

"I said I am following, can't you hear me?"

"And I am saying it's too dangerous for weaklings like you."

"What!"

"Hey, hey cut it." Kyouko had enough, "Homura, I appreciate your thought of her safety, but I'll be grateful if I have someone to come with me too... And no one else is better than Sayaka." Her voice soften near the end of her speech.

Homura sighed and stared at Madoka's body behind the annoying blunette. _'Just this once,'_ Homura promised herself that she would not endanger the life of her lover's best friend again, just in case Madoka would really get mad at her if she learned about it.

The time traveller lifted her shield-wielding arm and glanced at the two, "Are you ready?"

A fanged grin and a stiff nod were her replies. She took a deep breath and shut her eyes to focus. She made a silent prayer that sending other people back to more than a year ago would work and that she would still have enough energy for her own time-travel. She whispered loud enough for the two to hear her, "Here I go..."

White flashes of light emerged from the sandy ground and swallowed the blue and the red Magical girls instantly. The light lasted for a moment and it slowly died down, being absorbed to the ground, leaving nothing behind. Purple eyes stared straight into the space ahead of her, where the two girls were just a moment ago. Another glance over to the corpse, she mentally cheered herself on and lifted her shield arm again.

"Madoka, I'm coming."

* * *

A/N: That's it for prologue! I hope my writing is still fine, I have not written anything in ages *hides from flying daggers coming from the K-ON fans*. And yeah, I suck in English and I could tell there's tons of errors all over the chapter. Feel free to correct me, I'll change it!

Anyway, this fic is going to focus solely on Kyousaya, the rest of the cast are only mentions and a little appearance. I'll try to keep everything as canon as possible, but the most non-canon fact is that Homura's shield could work on other people and could travel even further more than a month which is over the "amount of sand" in her shield _(yeah, I read up almost everything I could in the Puella Magi wiki)._

Correct me if I'm wrong to say that Kyouko's family should have died around two years prior from anime's Walpurgis Night timeline, right?

Another warning for the weak-hearted ones: There's a fair reason to why this fanfic is categorized as ANGST. So if you cannot take any major amount of angst, even more than the original anime plot, I'll suggest you to not read this fanfic. I'll try to chip in bits of fluff so that the fic will not feel too horribly heavy.

That aside, welcome to Kaito's world of angst!

Kaito / 8 Feb 2013


	2. Chapter 1 : Returning

Chapter 1 : Returning

Disclaimer: This fiction is purely fanmade. Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica / Puella Magi Madoka Magica belongs to the owners.

* * *

_Get it, Sayaka. I'll see you soon._

A bell rang through her hazy thoughts as she shot up from her table. A drop of drool slipped off the edge of her lips and her blurry vision slowly came into place. _Where... what?_

"Sayaka-chan, let's go home!"

The blunette lifted her head and turned to where the voice came from. Her eyes widen as she stared rudely at her best friend.

Her... chibi best friend.

"What's wrong, Sayaka-chan?" a chibi Madoka asked, touching Sayaka's forehead. "School ended, let's go home."

Sayaka blinked again, thought slowly flowing back into place. Sayaka brushed Madoka's hand off her head and jumped up from her seat. She was wearing her blue polo t-shirt and shorts which she used to wear so often during her elementary school! Then it hit her: she really just went back in time to two years ago. That means Madoka and her have not enrolled into Mitakihara Middle School and... Wait, where's Kyouko?

She turned and glanced all around the classroom before fixing her sight on Madoka. With a grin, the blunette gave Madoka's super adorable, puffy cheeks a pinch and replied cheekily, "I'm not going home yet, Madoka-chan. I've got some world-saving duties to do today!"

As expected from the still-or-even-more naive little Pinklette Princess, Madoka awed at the way Sayaka gave her speech and wrapped her arms around Sayaka's arm, "What are you doing today?"

Partially glad that she could already see Madoka so soon when she came back, Sayaka scratched her side of her hair nervously with her free hand. "I'm gonna save a family from desperation." Her eyes glanced over the wall clock in her old classroom quickly, "I'll tell you when I come back."

Madoka gave her best friend a doubtful look but let go of her arm anyway. "Be sure to share your story when you come back, ok?" she smiled.

"You bet!" The blunette grinned even wider and push all her stationeries on the table into her school bag.

"But don't forget to do your homework for the weekend too, Sayaka-chan." Madoka reminded offhandedly, "Or your mum is going to get a call from the school again."

Sayaka flinched. _Oh yeah, this used to happen all the time._ Her grin turned nervous and she pat Madoka's head to reassure her, "I will. See you next week then?"

Madoka nodded and gave Sayaka a tight hug which she returned wholeheartedly. This definitely felt great. After all the crap she went through just a blink of an eye ago, she's back to being the little clueless child she was. A world without broken hearts and despair; this world is simple, plain, and filled with innocence.

They bid each other farewell at the school's gate and Sayaka went off to the direction of the old church where Kyouko confessed her past. That place would totally make sense for their meet up, since they would not know how else to meet each other. They should have known that they would appear at the places where they last were at 2 years ago and made arrangements before being sent back.

Sayaka grumbled at this carelessness and continue. It must have been a weird sight for a little girl, carrying her lunchbox and school bag, to dash through the streets alone without any adult accompanying her. She could not care less, she has to meet up with Kyouko soon or coming back would be a waste.

Ok, maybe not really a waste since Madoka's alive again. Thank God that what Homura said was true, _"Madoka is alive in the past". _If she wasn't, Sayaka was pretty damn sure she will strangle the hell outta the transfer student when they meet 2 years later.

Soon, Sayaka reached the market and a commotion was occurring right in front of the fruit stall. She stopped, sixth sense telling her that she has to check things out there.

Being slim is her privilege as the tiny girl squeeze her way through the crowd of adults. She peeped through the gaps in between the people and her sapphire eyes caught a figure immediately.

"Kyouko!" she called out and swim through the crowd even faster.

The redhead was in the middle of being beaten up by the fruit stall owner with a broom. She crawled up into the corner between walls and had her legs kept close to her body, with her arms shielding her head. Her eyes were filled with stubborn tears that refused to leak and she bit her lower lip hard, trying her best to get immune to the pain. Soft whimpers had escaped out of her lips through the beating.

"Scrawny little thief! I've caught you so many times and you still refuse to budge, huh!" The owner was a tall, broad man. His broom was lifted up away from the redhead while he continued screaming profanities at her.

"_Kyouko!"_

The stall owner turned to see a little blunette coming towards the redhead and stopped his assault. "Huh, an accomplice to the rescue?" he spat.

Sayaka stopped in front of the bruised girl and glared at the store owner, "How can you hit such a young girl?"

His reply was a smirk followed by a bark of laughter. Confused, Sayaka stood up with her arms spread in front of Kyouko, eyes so sharp and fierce that she could cut the man she was looking at if she wants to.

A trembling cold hand grabbed the savior's wrist and she turned to face her companion. Kyouko was steadying herself up and she whispered to her friend, "I... Kindda forget that my arms and legs are slightly shorter and ended getting caught..."

The blue knight resisted the urge to roll her eyes on the spot. "What did you _steal_ and how much is it?" she hissed back quietly.

Fingers still trembling, the redhead pointed to the half eaten apple beside her foot. Sayaka nodded and turned to fish out her purse in her school bag. At that point, the crowd and stall owner went quiet, focusing their attention to the school girl digging her bag.

Suddenly, Kyouko gave the half-eaten apple a swift well-trained kick and it flew pass the blunette, straight into the tummy of the tall man, draining air out of him temporarily.

The cold fingers became tight instantly and the blunette was tugged out of her motion. "Now, run!" was registered in her head a second too late when she realised that she was being pulled away from the scene by the market thieve.

The stall owner grunted and held his tummy in pain. He bit his inner cheek and glared through the crowd. No, not here, no, not there either. Arghhhh they are too small!

"Where the fuck did ya'll little bitches went—" gradually turned into echoes as the two girls ran and hid around the corners of the next street.

Panting with her palms on her knees, the redhead turned to her companion, "Se...seriously, Sayaka? Being all... all heroic again the moment... You reach here?"

Without any form of resistance now, Sayaka rolled her eyes. "I'm here for you and I don't want you to be wasted before we even begin anything!" She waved her arms around exaggerating her point.

Silence emerge between the two as they caught their breath slowly. It was awkward, to Kyouko at least. To hear Sayaka say that she didn't want her to be wasted amused her. For once, she felt treasured by that idiot. And by treasured, she meant that she was finally labeled and acknowledged as "friend", not the invisible street rat who had to punch someone to gain the hero's attention. A chuckle left her lips before she could stop it and it caught the blunette's attention. Blue eyes narrowed and questioned the redhead silently.

Kyouko lift her bangs off her eyes and grinned, "Ya know, I'm really glad to see you again."

To her surprise, what escaped from the lips of the blue knight was a sigh of relief. "Yeah, so do I." Sayaka lifted up her hand and spot the ring still intact on her finger, "So... How should we begin?"

A shrug was all that Kyouko could reply. She didn't know. She woke up in an alley, shivering at the cold weather with only her once-favorite black and green hoodie jacket to keep her warm. It could be one of the times that she ran away from home, not wanting to accept that her father had became a changed man, or it could be that she was half-way hunting food for Momo, her adorable younger sister, and was hiding away from some angry store owners. She couldn't recall, but as far as she knows, she actually does this quite often back then. Leaving home, leaving her mother and her sister in the hands of the devil...–

Finger snapped infront of her eyes and the redhead jumped out of her daze. "Are you sure you're back from the future there, Miss Apple Thief?" The fingers were replaced with blue eyes staring intently into hers.

Kyouko gulped down a lump of saliva and she continued staring. Those blue eyes, so much like ocean waves... Waves that makes people lost in them, waves that are filled with ups and downs... Waves that captured the sailors, let them sail through emotions, thoughts, questions... So vast, so wide... So much like the outer space...—

"Helloooo, knock knock!"

Another snap and the dazy girl jumped and looked away, blushing heavily. _'Holy crap what the hell?'_ She wished she could really kick and hurt herself mentally.

From the corner of her eyes, she could see the blur motions of blue hair swaying beside her, trying to catch her attention. Kyouko blinked her eyes wet and took a deep breath. With a smirk, she turned and replied, "Come in."

Sayaka stopped her Operation Catch Kyouko Attention and lowered her eye lid. She lifted up her index finger in Kyouko's face, "Either you're trying too much to act like a boss," and then she lifted her middle finger to show a '2', "Or you're trying to sound dirty, Kyouko."

A burst of laughter echoed through the walls and the owner kneeled down on the floor trying hard to control her laughters, "Holy shit! Miki-sensei teaching me how to sound dirty!"

Another grunt and Sayaka pushed the redhead's shoulder lightly. Like a piece of paper falling off the edge of a table, Kyouko fell down to her side swiftly, still giggling over what Sayaka said.

"Argh, seriously Kyouko!" Sayaka kicked the fallen girl's heel annoyingly, "Can we get into business now?"

The redhead sniffed and pushed herself up to a sitting position, "Yeah, yeah. How do you suggest we go about this?"

Sayaka frowned and crossed her arms. "You should at least fill me in with details of what happened. At this point, they should still be alive, right?"

The giggling stop and Kyouko gave another shrug, looking out into the streets behind them. Well, it's true that Sayaka ought to know the details, or at least time, location and stuffs... And what to be wary of say...

"Hey, could you promise me something?" red eyes turned to her friend suddenly, "Don't use magic or what not. Maybe I can still convince Father that it was something else and not magical girl tricks. Like say, cosplay or something. Just act human."

The blunette stared hard at Kyouko with a "heh?" hanging at the edge of her mouth.

Kyouko gritted her teeth, "Well?"

Sayaka rolled her eyes and brushed off the redhead, "I'm fine with the no magic part, but you need to come up with something more convincing. Don't drag me down into becoming an otaku with you."

A confident grin flashed across the other girl's face instantly, revealing her fang. She snapped a finger and raised a fist at the blunette. Sayaka smirked and punched the fist, "You're gonna owe me something big, Kyouko."

The grin didn't fade as Kyouko lead Sayaka across the streets, towards the Sakura church. Sure, owe her something big. What's bigger and more important than having her family back, and her crush to be supporting her? Kyouko begin giggling to herself again. Yeah, life can't get any better than this moment.

* * *

The two girls stood across an open field facing a 3 stories tall architecture, with one of them having her jaw hanging wide and the other giving her friend a proud smirk.

"Woah..." Sayaka stared at the building in front of her in awe, "Kyouko, your family church... Actually looks so good."

The redhead jumped at the ending phrase and swing her arm across the other girl, trying to make herself seem threatening, "What 'actually looks so good'? The Sakura Church always look good!"

Sayaka giggled and pushed the playful arm away. "Right, now, I think it's time you can describe to me the 'disaster that will never happen in the future'?" She gave a wink at the end of her sentence.

The long-hair girl heaved a sigh, unsure whether was it a relief that what happened will never happen here, or was it a sign that her heart is breaking again at the thought of what _happened_. Her emotions went all over the place, worst than the ups and downs of a roller coaster from the moment she open her eyes here and during her walk to this church. Right, Sayaka is right to say that the Sakura Church looks good. Damn it, she can barely remember the good days her family had, it was so long ago!

Sensing the silence and unwillingness to repeat the story, Sayaka took a deep breath and initiated the conversation, "Erm... You can start with the exact date and time, what you were doing before that that you made you absent from home and... Which room were they in when they... Were attacked."

With her feet glued to the ground, Kyouko looked up to the grand, medieval-influenced church, allowing memories to fill up her thoughts. "It was... 16 April, around 2 to 3pm when I found them." She swallowed a lump of saliva, trying to relief an old pain. "Momo was in her bedroom, our shared bed room, and Mother was along the corridor of our rooms. The police said that she was probably stabbed once in the kitchen and tried to warn Momo about Father... But she was still caught by him and killed before she can reach... There were her blood stains from the kitchen on the first floor up till where her body was."

Her eye contact to the building broke and she lowered her head, "Father was in the main church hall. He hanged himself. I don't know where he got the ropes so he probably planned and bought it before. The stool was from our church's storage room."

The redhead bit her lower lip and took a deep breath, still trying her best to control her emotions. Her fingers were turning cold and begin shivering slightly. Sayaka caught sight of it and took her hand within hers, warming her up a bit. Kyouko nodded slightly which she hope could reassure Sayaka and continued, "I was... In the park I think. I can't remember. After I was found out by Father, I kept leaving my house in order to avoid him calling me names. My presence in the church hurt him... the most."

Tears were forming up at the edge of her eyes and she quickly wiped them off with the back of her palm. Gritting her teeth, Kyouko took in a deep breath and made a loud noise by sucking her mucus back in. With her eyes fixed on her old home, she bit her lower lip once more, "That's... all I remember."

A light thud broke her thoughts when she felt Sayaka's hand behind her back. She turned to face her blue-haired friend, only to receive an encouraging grin. With another tap on the shoulder, Sayaka smiled, "So, ready?"

'_Damn that influential smile of hers...'_

"Yeah, even more so with you around."

* * *

They were just a few more steps to the door of the gigantic church near the edge Kasamino and Mitakihara. Two young girls, hand in hand, one with the look of encouragement and another with the look that has a mix of fear and longing.

Together, they took in deep breaths to calm their nerves. The one who knew the place well took the lead and pushed the wooden door slowly, allowing a beam of light to shine through the dusty floor and into the long corridor.

'_This is it'_ Kyouko thought and her feet landed lightly onto the still-intact floor of the church. She could not really recall when was the last time she had seen the church in such a good condition. For the longest period of time, all she had in mind was how dusty the place is, how rotten the wooden furnitures had became after being neglected by the remaining Sakura. This whole feeling of stepping into the good-old church was a whole new feeling to her.

A mix, a confusion.

She knew she was excited before, being able to see Momo and her parents again, but yet the fear is creeping up. What if she fails to save them again? What if she witness the deaths again? What if... It just cannot be avoided?

Kyouko gritted her teeth, _'No, think otherwise. I will succeed and this is my chance to live happily.'_

Another quiet step was taken and the redhead entered her old home. Red orbs squinted and glanced around the corners of the main corridor and she sees no one in particular. All seems fine, it seems.

Grabbing the hand of the blunette, Kyouko pulled her friend into her home with pride. The worried look that had been plastered onto her face since the walk from the field had been replaced with her trademarked fang grin almost instantly.

Sayaka stumbled into the church through the tiny gap of the door from the sudden pull. But before she could even lift her finger to flick Kyouko, the interior of the church caught her attention.

The beautiful stained glass surrounding the sides of the church were clear, with the sun shinning through it, printing its well-defined colours onto the floor. Furnitures were aligned, the toned, dark wood were glossy and the statues around the corners were new. The space was clear, rubbish-free, as compared to her memories of the church Kyouko brought her to. With the little sunlight shining through and the help of a few lighted candles, she could clearly see little bits of dusts floating around too.

After a few moments of observing her jaw-dropping guest in the house, Kyouko's grin got even wider. Just as she was about to speak words of welcome, distinctive silhouettes behind a statue few feet away from them caught her attention.

"Who's there!" the redhead shouted, surprising Sayaka and broke her train of thoughts about the interior design.

Her voice echoed through the hall, gaining no replies from who she spotted. Irritated that someone broke into the church without her family's permission, Kyouko took a step forward, ready to confront the intruders.

"Could that be... Kyouko?" a deep manly voice spoke from the front desk of the hall.

That voice.

Kyouko quickly turned around to face where the sound came from with wide eyes.

"Father?"

* * *

A/N: Ok, after five months, I finally typed something for Saving Life again. I hope I can finish this fic before school reopens in Sept. All my works are done without beta, by the way. Too lazy to get one.

Everything seems pretty calm at the moment, since well, chapter 1 is where the story starts. I hope I won't struggle when I reach the climax part. o_o

Do drop a review if you could! And hope you enjoyed reading it!

Kaito / 15 July 2013


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